The Earth Has a Fever and the Fever Is Rising...We Are What Is Wrong and We Must Make It Right, in the Context of Global Warming, Discuss the Extent to Which You Agree with This Statement Essay

‘The Earth has a fever, and the fever is rising…. We are what is wrong, and we must make it right.’ (Al Gore, 2007)

In the context of global warming, discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.

Global warming is the idea that the world’s temperatures are increasing due to a variety of factors, mainly attributed to human causes. Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces, temperatures warmed roughly 0.85ºC from 1880 to 2012, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Al Gore, former US Vice President turned environmentalist, authored a book called “An Inconvenient Truth”. The quote from him summarises a commonly shared viewpoint on the issue of climate change, which will be discussed in this essay and the arguments validity.

The period of 1983-2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years in the northern hemisphere. The ocean is warming nearest the surface, with the upper 75m warming 0.11°C a year over the past decade. Thus, this is evidence that historically the Earth has been warming up. During the Medieval Warm period, 1000-1300AD, European temperatures reached their warmest levels for 4000 years, with grapevine being grown in the UK.

The above evidence is reliable as it comes from the IPCC who have access to huge amounts of data and are a global initiative, with many scientists working for them providing accurate information.

Al Gore says “We are the cause”. The cause of global warming is a topic that is subject to much debate. The debate is around whether this is an issue caused by humans or indeed whether it is a natural occurrence. In the IPCC report of 2014 the conclusion reached is there is a 95% certainty that it is caused by human activity. This is a reliable piece of evidence with the IPCC being a global institute with top scientists working for them and feeding information back to them, with a considerable amount of research being used to reach this conclusion. This view is also backed up by Rajendra Pachauri, joint winner of the Nobel Prize with Al Gore. He states “Greenhouse gas emissions have grown since pre-industrialised times, but there has been an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004”.

However, there is also evidence to suggest that in fact there are natural causes. Gasses trapped in the frozen ice sheets and glaciers, such as in Greenland and Antarctica, are being released due to the natural summer shrinkage of the sheets. These harmful gases are released into the atmosphere, having been stored in the ice for many thousands of years. As well as this, the Earth’s temperature fluctuates naturally, with Ice Ages and warm periods occurring over the past 1000 years, such as the Little Ice Age in 1450-1890. Also, the Earth may just be experiencing a change in the wobble. The 23.5° angel of the Earth is not constant and changes occur every 21000 years, so we may be experiencing this now. This would have an impact as we are further away or closer to the Sun, potentially having profound effects. Overall, I believe that humans are the main cause as the rate has been rapidly increased during the years we have been polluting our atmosphere with greenhouse gasses, yet a combination of natural and human causes are to blame.